More Worker-Friendly Ownership Results In New Contract For Chicago Reader Newsroom Workers

Editorial workers at alternative weekly the Chicago Reader announced Friday that they’ve unanimously approved a contract, ending a two-year struggle with the paper’s previous owners that culminated in a series of cutbacks and a strike-authorization vote by workers in May. The first contract in the paper’s 46-year history was reached after the Reader and sister paper the Chicago Sun-Times were acquired in July by an investment group that includes several labor unions affiliated with the Chicago Federation of Labor. The one-year contract includes average pay increases of 8.4 percent which the Chicago News Guild says will begin to correct long-standing pay inequities at the Reader, where salaries bore little relation to a person’s job responsibilities or years of experience.

Other key provisions of the contract include overtime pay and a ban on using freelancers to replace full-time staffers. Reader workers will also be entitled to improvements in retirement and health care if Guild Members in the Sun-Times editorial department win them in their next contract.

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Workers Independent News (WIN) is focused on the issues and concerns of working people. As a news service, WIN is devoted to bringing the voices of workers, their families, communities and organizations to the widest public possible, using all means of electronic media. WIN packages news for distribution to radio stations, Internet radio, websites, for podcast and print publication.